Scoot: After Jefferson stabbings, where's the talk of knife control?

Over the weekend, there were seven incidents of violence in Jefferson Parish. Five of the seven incidents were stabbings, and three of the five stabbings were related to domestic violence.

If the five violent stabbings had been committed with guns rather than knives, there would probably have been an attempt to link the violent acts to the weapon – the gun. If guns are to blame for gun violence, then why aren’t knives blamed for stabbings?

The relationship between the media and the audience is a regular discussion on my radio shows and in my blogs. The news media tends to use established public perception to create a sense of panic and ever-present danger in its effort to attract an audience. With the gun debate already at a fever pitch in America, linking a series of violent gun-related incidents to the fear of guns and also the defense of guns, automatically strikes a sensitive nerve among citizens. But when knives are the weapon used in a violent act – there is never a reciprocal attack on the knife as a weapon.

The stabbings over the weekend in Jefferson Parish left one person dead and six injured. On Grand Isle, police say a 34-year-old woman was stabbed to death near her 1-year-old daughter. The woman’s boyfriend was arrested and admitted to stabbing his girlfriend.

Two other stabbings were related to domestic disputes. It is impossible for police to prevent these acts of violence and there is no legislation that would do anything keep knives out of the hands of violent people. It is also fair to argue that individuals who stab a person are more violent that those who use guns to commit an act of violence.

Using a gun to kill or injure a person is less personal than a stabbing. Guns allow an act of violence to be committed without contact with another human. To stab someone, an enraged individual would have to touch a warm human body in the process of using a knife and in many cases – a stabbing would be a bloodier act of violence than a shooting.

If there is logic in blaming or defending guns following a series of shootings – then let’s apply the same debate to knives and stabbings.

This is what the debate would sound like: Following five stabbings in Jefferson Parish over the weekend, including the stabbing of a mother near her 1-year-old daughter, some politicians are demanding stricter knife-control laws. There is outrage over the availability of knives and we need to do more to prevent the wrong people from getting a knife.

On the other side of the debate – pro-knife rights citizens are advancing the idea that if more people had knives – there would be less knife violence. One pro-knife rights group said that they plan to go to family restaurants and bring knives to demonstrate the importance of carrying a knife. Wait – every restaurant has a knife….

If stabbings do not ignite a debate over the availability of a weapon in an act of violence – then the news media, many citizens and many pro- and anti-gun rights groups are hypocritical for using the existing panic about guns to fuel their gun rights or gun control agenda.

I can even hear that debate on the air with callers arguing that there are too many knives in America and parents are not teaching their children to respect knives.

The fact that more acts of violence are committed with guns than with knives still does not diffuse the false assumption that it is the availability of a weapon that is to blame for the crime.

The many cooking shows on TV and the informercials for knives would come under attack for promoting knife violence.

If the gun is to blame – then the knife is to blame. Otherwise – the debate over gun control or the promotion of more people carrying guns is hypocritical.

Maybe it all started when the criminal was first introduced to a butter knife at an early age!